‘Is this a parody account?’ UN ambassador draws ire after claiming US ‘will not abandon’ people of Iran

Ambassador Kelly Craft's effort to beautify a US push to trigger the return of UN sanctions on Iran and frame the move in humanitarian terms was met with mockery as observers contrasted her statement with Washington's actions.

“The United States will not abandon the people of Iran or the region,” Craft said Tuesday on Twitter, in support of a US request to “snap back” sanctions on Iran. “We will never allow Iran, the world's No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism, to freely buy and sell weapons of war,” she said, and accused other UN Security Council members who do not support US efforts of standing “in the company of terrorists.”

Twitter users pointed out that the statement doesn't square with US military interventions in the region, betrayals of allies and its own dominant military industrial complex.

“Is this a parody account?” asked Assal Rad, a researcher at the National Iranian American Council, adding that the US is “starving Iranians with sanctions” during a pandemic and “has bombed the region into Stone Age.” Rad also noted that the US invades sovereign states at will and is the top seller of weapons of war to the region. 

While Rad's comments drew some backlash of their own –one commenter said Iran could "feed its own people" for instance – her anti-hypocrisy sentiment was shared by many. “I thought the US had tried to block medical aid to Iran and another country had to step in to get the supplies to their destination,” one person said.

Journalist and author Gareth Porter was among those pointing out that the US is demanding that Iran be punished for not fully adhering to a nuclear deal, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, that the Trump administration abandoned in 2018. “The Trump administration is showing the world the culmination of the historical pattern of US arrogant behavior toward international agreements,” Porter said.

Journalist Mark Leon Goldberg noted that Craft's statement also impugned US allies for not being hawkish enough on Iran. “Here's the US ambassador to the UN, saying that the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Belgium are pro-terrorism,” he said.

Not everyone took issue with Craft’s statement, however. One Iranian Christian and anti-government activist thanked the ambassador for her statement, calling Iran a “rogue regime” that should be stood up to.

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